Pioneering work in chemistry receives prestigious recognition

Professor Jas Pal Badyal FRS from Durham University has been named as the Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden Prize winner for 2017 for his pioneering work on the functionalization of solid surfaces and deposition of nanocoatings. Societal applications Professor Badyal and his team have undertaken fundamental research leading to the invention of a wide range of surfaces for applications such as water harvesting in arid climates, oil-water separation, clothing, smartphones, and healthcare, among others. Super-repellent nanocoatings have for example been applied to 100 million smartphones, 75 per cent of the world's hearing aids, and three million pairs of footwear. Professor Badyal, who has been a faculty member in the Department of Chemistry since 1989, said: "I am very honoured to have been selected to receive the Royal Society of Chemistry Tilden Prize. I feel this award acknowledges a wide scope of research undertaken in my group by some brilliant PhD students whom I have had the privilege to supervise over the years." Low environmental impact The nanocoatings, invented by the team led by Professor Badyal, use very low amounts of material and energy which minimises environmental impact compared to traditional processes. Examples include the deposition of thin, nanoscale coatings onto surfaces by reacting small molecules in the presence of a plasma to achieve high levels of functionality. The research has been commercialised and has resulted in three nanotechnology start-up companies with hundreds of millions of products being manufactured globally.